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Hawaii News

Hawaii Electric’s insurance is fraction of potential fire claims

Nearly two months after the deadly Maui wildfires, Hawaiian Electric revealed the limited scope of insurance coverage it holds in the face of potentially billions of dollars in damage claims.

Hawaiian Electric has $165 million in annual general liability insurance, according to a filing with state regulators, compared with the $4.9 billion in potential claims estimated by research firm Capstone. The utility already is the target of multiple lawsuits alleging that its power lines sparked the blaze that razed the historic town of Lahaina and killed at least 98 people.

“I’m not sure that level of coverage will provide a lot of comfort to people,” said Paul Patterson, a utility analyst for Glenrock Associates. The filing was dated Monday.

Shares of the utility’s parent, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., fell as much as 4% Wednesday, and it has shed more than two-thirds of its market capitalization since the Aug. 8 fire.

On Thursday, HEI shares ticked up 0.5%, or 6 cents, to close at $11.72.

Hawaiian Electric has denied wrongdoing, and the company’s chief executive officer told a congressional hearing last week that the wildfire wasn’t the utility’s fault. While acknowledging its downed lines sparked a fire earlier in the day, the company said firefighters claimed they had extinguished that blaze. A fire later flared up in the same area when the company’s power lines were deenergized, and it was that fire that burned Lahaina, according to the company.

Hawaiian Electric holds a variety of insurance policy coverage limits, including $250 million for damage to company property caused by a named windstorm and $25 million for professional liability insurance.

The company said in the filing that its transmission and distribution systems, except for substation buildings and their contents, are roughly valued at $9 billion and largely not insured against loss or damage because such insurance capacity is limited and premiums are cost-prohibitive.

Hawaiian Electric did note that it has filed claims relating to the recent Maui wildfires with its insurance carriers.

The utility disclosed its insurance coverage in response to a wide-ranging Hawaii Public Utilities Commission inquiry. Hawaiian Electric didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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